The present invention relates to a token game machine that implements a game using a token as a game medium.
A pusher-type token game machine has been known. The pusher-type token game machine includes a stationary table having a front end that extends over a token chute, and a pusher table that slides forward and backward with respect to the token chute along the upper side of the stationary table through an insertion hole (entrance) formed at the rear of the stationary table, the stationary table and the pusher table being provided in a game space. A number of tokens are placed on the upper side of the stationary table and the upper side of the pusher table. An opening between the upper side of the stationary table and the lower side of the pusher table is set to be smaller than the thickness of the token so that the token placed on the stationary table can be pushed by the front face of the pusher table.
When the player has inserted tokens into the game machine, tokens in the same number as the number of the inserted tokens are supplied to the game space and are placed on the upper side of the pusher table. When the pusher table moves backward while sliding along the stationary table, the pusher table is withdrawn into the insertion hole (entrance). When the pusher table is withdrawn into the insertion hole, the tokens placed at the rear of the upper side of the pusher table contact the edge of the insertion hole and are pushed relatively forward. This causes other tokens placed on the pusher table to be pushed forward one after the other so that the tokens positioned on the front end of the pusher table fall onto a space formed on the upper side of the stationary table due to the backward movement of the pusher table. When the pusher table slides forward on the stationary table, the token which has fallen onto the stationary table is pushed forward by the front face of the pusher table. The tokens which have been placed on the upper side of the stationary table are then pushed forward one after the other. Some of the tokens which have been placed on the upper side of the stationary table fall into the token chute from the front end of the stationary table, and the tokens which have fallen are discharged from the token discharge port. The player enjoys playing the game by determining an appropriate token placement position that discharges a larger number of tokens.
In recent years, a token game machine in which a ball is supplied to the stationary table as a game medium differing from the token has been known (see JP-A-2002-253842, for example). In such a token game machine using a special game medium, when a ball supplied to the stationary table is moved together with the tokens placed on the stationary table and falls into the token chute, the ball is sorted out from the tokens, transferred to a lottery device by a recover mechanism and a transfer mechanism, and used as a lottery medium. The above-described technology implements an interesting token game by enabling a visual change due to the addition of a ball as a special game medium and using the ball as a lottery medium.
In a related-art token game machine, only one type of special game medium is placed on the stationary table, the pusher table, or the like together with a token. Therefore, a visual effect and a lottery process utilizing the special game medium are limited.